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Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Wilson and Stribling Families Papers, A&M 0880, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Scope and Contents

Correspondence, clippings, land papers, and other records of: James Wilson, an attorney in Wood County, ca.1800-1820; Robert M. Stribling and other members of the Stribling family in Mason County, 1821-ca.1909; and James A. and Otis Young, ca.1900-1934, in Mason County. A pocket diary of James Wilson gives information on his law practice in Kanawha, Monongalia, and Wood counties in 1804.

The James Wilson diary of 1804 (in box 3) begins in May documenting a trip to Morgantown starting at a point near Winchester, Virginia (although he could have begun his trip earlier from Alexandria, Virginia on evidence of a 14 May 1804 letter to Wilson in Alexandria from John A. Smith in Falmouth, Virginia (see addenda in box 3). The diary includes details such as names of taverns where he stayed, what he ate and drank (including whiskey), ferriage (for example "over the North Branch"), canoeing, distances traveled, and expenses. There is also a record of a trip to Clarksburg. The diary also includes many listings of clients and types of legal work performed in western Virginia.

Other items of interest (in box 3) include: 1) "The Gentleman's Annual Pocket Remembrancer, for the Year 1803"; 2) two handbills advertising a "Select Ball" (12 December 1859) and "A Cotillion Party" (20 February 1865 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia during the Civil War); 3) prospectus announcing the establishment of the "Western Virginian", a Democratic Mason County newspaper advocating the election of John C. Breckinrdige and Joseph Lane in the 1860 U.S. Presidential election; 4) one handbill requesting a gathering of the "Friends of Southern Rights" in Richmond, Virginia on 16 April 1861, including a listing of personal names and counties of origin (the Ordinance of Secession passed the Virginia Legislature on 17 April 1861); and 5) reminiscence by C.N. Burns regarding life in Point Pleasant, Virginia during its occupation by the 11th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during 1861-1863 that appeared in the 26 January and 2 February, 1899 issues of the newspaper "The Buckeye" published in Troy, Ohio. Written in a humorous style reminiscent of Mark Twain, the Burns narrative describes daily routines (including mention of gambling and steamboats), prominent personalites, and disturbances due to the Civil War.

"The Gentleman's Annual Pocket Remembrancer, for the Year 1803" (separated to the rare book collection) was published in Philadelphia by John Bloren for William Y. Birch, and includes 164 pages. Pages 5-17 include an almanac. Pages 18-89 contain blank ruled pages for the days of the year with a few annotations by, presumably, James Wilson. Pages 90-164 contain substantial listings and tabulations of information regarding the government, military, and commerce of the United States including: a listings of officials of the United State Government and Judiciary; listings of officers in the army, navy, and marines; coins of the United States; duties on goods imported; terms of credit for duties; rate at which foreign coins are estimated; time of arrival and closing the mails at Philadelphia; enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States; table of the value and weight of coins; table showing the value of dollars; table reducing pence and shillings to cents; table showing the value of 100 pounds sterling in Pennsylvania currency, and dollars and cents, at the different rates of exchange; rules for reducing the currencies of the different states into each other; and a tide table.

Separated Material

Separated to rare books: "The Gentleman's Annual Pocket Remembrancer, for the Year 1803". Philadelphia: Bloren, John, [1803] (This item is described in the Scope and Content Note of this collection.)

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Burr, Aaron, 1756-1836
• Civil War - Ohio 11th Volunteer Infantry.
• Election of 1860.
• Great Britain
• Kanawha County (W. Va.)
• Land.
• Lawyers - letters and papers.
• Mason County.
• Monongalia County (W. Va.)
• Point Pleasant (W. Va.)
• Stribling family
• Stribling, Robert M. (Robert Mackey), 1833-1914
• Taxation
• United States -- History -- French and Indian War, 1754-1763
• Wilson family
• Wilson, James
• Wood County (W. Va.)
• Young, James A.
• Young, Otis